Not so quick. Let’s take this one severely.
Vice President Kamala Harris went stay along with her first crypto-specific coverage yesterday, vowing to assist defend Black People who put money into cryptocurrency. That is customary problem stuff for the Democratic Social gathering in 2024, the place as Nik factors out, the reason for anti-racism is alive and effectively.
For the sake of argument, let’s even put apart Nik’s extra legitimate critiques.
I, too, am involved that, with out coverage specifics, a Harris administration may use this coverage to stop Black People from the advantages of proudly owning Bitcoin.
For now, let’s cope with the very actual problem of reparations. The US is a Democracy, and information reveals over 70% of Black People really feel the federal authorities ought to pay them restitution for the struggling of their ancestors (in comparison with simply 12% of white People). Three-quarters additionally imagine the Federal authorities ought to make the cost.
Let’s additionally contemplate the truth that, as Harris’s opponent, Donald Trump, has so clearly articulated, Bitcoin is one of the best likelihood America has to repay an exorbitant sum just like the $35 trillion nationwide debt. (Trump’s personal quote is that we may “pay just a little crypto” to absolve the deficit).
With some estimates suggesting the worth of reparations for slavery to be above $12 trillion, perhaps it’s time for Democrats to think about Bitcoin as a part of the answer, not as an business to carry again with onerous regulation.
In spite of everything, the Trump marketing campaign has already made clear: it believes the treasure trove of over 200,000 BTC (confiscated from darkish markets and criminals) is an asset to wield strategically.
With this in thoughts, why shouldn’t the Democrats contemplate Bitcoin an analogous strategic funding, shopping for and promoting Bitcoin for the targets aligned with their voting constituency?
Positive, you possibly can argue that utilizing America’s stockpile of Bitcoin needs to be a bipartisan effort, and that its use ought to profit everybody. However clearly, any cost of reparations would require both extra cash printing (and forex debasement) or taxation.
Paying reparations in Bitcoin (as others have steered making money funds to the descendants of slaves) could be handy and helpful, and it will defend these People and their wealth from continued debasement by U.S. policymakers.
Name it a half-baked thought, perhaps. However for the Harris Administration, it may imply fulfilling lengthy damaged guarantees. For tens of millions, the establishment of chattel slavery, the place Blacks had been purchased and offered as property, is a painful historical past that is still actual.
Like Bitcoin itself, placing this prior to now might be a once-in-a-century alternative.
This text is a Take. Opinions expressed are completely the writer’s and don’t essentially replicate these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.